Crestview property dispute nears resolution

City Attorney Jerry Miller was given the go-ahead to work with the Purl G. Adams family to resolve a sticky question of ownership of an alley alongside the Alatex building downtown.

Staff | @nwfdailynews

CRESTVIEW — The City Council voted Monday to pursue an “amiable settlement” of a property dispute with one of the community’s founding families.

City Attorney Jerry Miller was given the go-ahead to work with the Purl G. Adams family to resolve a sticky question of ownership of an alley alongside the Alatex building downtown.

Miller, who recently asserted the city’s intention to “heartily defend” Crestview’s claim to the alley, proposed the negotiations after Okaloosa County Property Appraiser Pete Smith reversed a previous decision and declared the Adamses rightful owners of the property.

The controversy over the short stretch of alley began as major renovation work to transform the Alatex building into a Florida A&M University pharmacy school was being completed.

FAMU architects designed entrance and exit doors opening into the alley that runs along the east side of the building. Stoops for the doors were built that jutted into the alley.

The Adams family objected to the encroachment. The city in turn claimed ownership.

Smith said he met with Miller and Crestview Mayor David Cadle on July 30 and was shown a 1942 deed indicating the Adams family, which donated the Alatex building’s property, also had given the alley to the city.

“Our maps did not show an alleyway behind the Alatex building,” Smith said. “When they showed me the deed I figured we’d missed a deed and I had someone add that to our maps.”

On Sept. 4, Jill Crew, the attorney representing the Adamses, brought a copy of the same deed and several more documents to Smith’s office.

Among them was one indicating a member of the Adams family had taken a mortgage on the alley. A title search had been conducted to verify ownership.

Smith said that convinced him the Adamses were the property owners. He has since adjusted his maps accordingly.

“The next change to the maps will be at the direction of the courts,” he said Tuesday.

Crew attended Monday’s City Council meeting, where Miller said he looked forward to an “amiable settlement” of the dispute.

Miller did not return a call to his office Tuesday.

Crew said it was “not clear” what direction negotiations with the city will take, but expected ownership, conveyance of ownership and access to the alley for FAMU students and commercial vehicles to be discussed.